1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related generally to indicia-bearing devices and, more particularly, to apparatus and methods adapted to associate indicia with a binder clip.
2. Description of Related Art
Binder clips are well known in the art. Binder clips are essentially clamping devices which are used to grip a single object or to hold together plural objects, such as paper sheets.
Binder clips typically comprise a body including a pair of resilient jaw portions and a spine portion. The spine portion is located between the jaw portions and connects the jaw portions. The width of the spine portion typically determines the maximum thickness of the object or objects which may be gripped by the binder clip. The body is commonly formed by folding a unitary metal blank. In such embodiments, the body serves as a spring urging each jaw portion toward the other to clamp or grip the object or objects therebetween. A pair of handles are typically provided. One handle is attached to each jaw portion. Displacement of the handles toward each other results in opening of the jaw portions to receive an object or release the object. As is known, binder clips are provided in a range of sizes permitting selection of the binder clip best suited to the size of the object or objects to be gripped.
Binder clips are available from numerous commercial sources, two of which are Acco Brands, Inc. of Lincolnshire, Ill. and Keysan of Pittsburgh, Pa. Binder clips are not limited to a single design as examples of binder clip design variations have been proposed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,263 (Lorber), U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,624 (Horswell) and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,309,605, 5,806,147 and D372,498 all to Sato.
One limitation of commercially-available binder clips is that such binder clips are underutilized as a productivity improvement and communication tool. This problem stems from the fact that binder clips typically look alike, each having a black monochromatic appearance. The very sameness of such binder clips precludes the use of such clips as a document-identification tool or as a communication platform. And, while quite useful, such binder clips are not particularly aesthetically pleasing.
Efforts have been made to improve the utility of binder clips by associating indicia with such clips. The indicia serve to distinguish one binder clip from another thereby allowing the binder clip to serve as a document-identification tool. For example, one approach has been to secure a tag or title card to the clip body by means of mechanical fasteners as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,133,388 (Merrill) and U.S. Pat. No. 1,139,627 (Baltzley). Another approach, exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,381 (Wooge) and patent publication no. US 2001/0032376 (Payne) involves the use of an upright index tab secured to the clip body. A still further approach has been to provide identification caps or sleeves over the ends of the handles as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,680 (Hashimoto), U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,862 (Hiromori) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,336 (Miller). Binder clips have also been modified to hold indicia-bearing objects, such as the scorecards described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,857,934 (Blackburn).
However, all of these attempts to improve the utility of binder clips have certain disadvantages. For example, specific manufacturing steps are required to make the mechanical fasteners used to secure identification tags or cards to the binder clip. The mechanical ears securing the tag or card could cause injury to the user and the tag or card could become detached from the binder clip. The upright index tab may interfere with handling of documents gripped by the binder clip or could inconveniently interfere with closure of a file drawer containing the clipped-together documents. And, such upright index tab could break off, for example when clipped-together documents are forcefully placed in a person's briefcase.
Regarding the identification caps or sleeves, such caps or sleeves may interfere with handling of the binder clip and clipped documents when the binder clip handles are in their gripping position. On the other hand, if the binder clip handles are folded against the surface of the clipped object then the caps or sleeves might not be visible, particularly if the clipped documents are in a file between abutting documents.
It would be a significant improvement in the art to provide a binder clip sleeve which would serve to optimize the utility of binder clips, which would permit use of the binder clip as a productivity tool and communication platform without interfering with handling of documents and things g ripped by the binder clip, which would present an opportunity to make the binder clip more aesthetically pleasing and which would be simple and economical to manufacture and use.